Time Hollow
by mormonsrock
Summary: Being a teenager, you tend to have a lot on your plate. For example, saving your parents, finding a missing girl, and stopping a murder can have things get a little tricky. But when you have time travel on your side... that's when things start to get fun.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

><p>"Ouch..." I muttered as I rubbed my right palm. I glanced down at it and noticed that it was now covered in several tiny scratches. Sox had really done it this time...<p>

Sox, my cat, yawned lazily as he stretched on my bed before laying down and staring at me from my seat at my desk.

"Listen, Sox," I winced as I looked at my left hand, which bore several similar scratches. "You've got to get a handle on your own strength. I was just trying to get you cleaned up, you know." Sox only blinked in response. No use in talking to a cat, I suppose. Sox rolled over on my bedspread, which had a black-and-white checkered pattern. I really liked the checkered design, so much that the carpet on the floor matched the blanket, actually.

I took a quick look around my room for the umpteenth time. My desk was parallel to my bed, so I had a nice view of Sox's backside from where I was sitting (very nice...). I also had a TV in my room, and above the TV was a rather large window. I also had two bookshelves. One of them was full of books, consequently, but the other one housed a different kind of reading material. The second bookshelf was filled with catalogs. Watch catalogs, to be exact.

I collect watches. It's an odd hobby, I know, but there was something about clocks that just seemed to fascinate me. I was thinking about getting a part-time job so I could afford the watch that I really, really wanted.

...But tomorrow was my birthday, so I might just get it from my folks instead. I'll try to casually float the idea past Mom later on.

I'd just gotten back from school, so it was still light outside, for a change. This was probably because I came straight home instead of stopping at Chronos. Chronos was a cafe that I visited pretty regularly, usually with my friends, Vin, Ben, and Morris. We all grew up together.

I absent-mindedly reached over to pet Sox, but he hissed when my hand drew near him. Uh-oh, he was ticked off again. I'd better leave him alone for now, I thought as I scooted back towards my desk in my swivel chair.

"Ethan!" My mom was calling me from downstairs. "Time for dinner!" Was is time to eat already? "Coming," I called on my way out of my room.

Sox then suddenly jumped up, nosed the window above the TV open, and bolted outside. "Sox?" I called after him. "Where are you going?" I followed Sox by taking the long way; stairs and doors, both of which seemed invisible to Sox. When I'd finally made it outside, I'd found that Sox had simply gone out to our front driveway, and was sitting on the tall-ish brick wall that surrounded our house.

"What are you doing here, Sox?" I asked as I scratched between his ears. It was dark now, but the moon was barely out, shyly peeking out from between the clouds.

Suddenly Sox started hissing at something in the distance. I looked in that direction and saw a shadowy figure approaching, heavy, ominous, footsteps accompanying it. "Sh! Sox!" I tried to calm him down by stroking his black-and-white patchy fur.

The approaching figure was closer now, and I could get a better look at him. He was a tall man, with a strong build and a serious-looking face. He also had long, wavy, gray hair and a bit of a goatee on his chin.

"Could it be...?" The man said with a glint in his eye and slight awe in his deep voice.

"Why, you-!" I yelled at him and took a step towards him as soon as I saw his face. But I suddenly stopped myself in my tracks. What on earth was I doing? What just happened was almost instinctive, it was like a part of me just started moving on its own. After all, I didn't even know this guy... right?

"G-good evening," I stuttered, slightly embarrassed at what I'd just done, but the man seemed unfazed.

Still... he seemed awfully familiar...

"...Indeed..." The man was looking me over, as if studying me for some reason. He then promptly turned around and walked back in the direction from which he came.

...I've seen this guy before... Where was it...?

Sox meowed, startling me from my thoughts. I chuckled and gave Sox a pat on the head. I was probably just imagining things. Maybe that guy just had one of those familiar-looking faces.

"C'mon, Sox," I said as I picked him up. "Let's get back inside. Dinner's waiting."


	2. Yesterday

**Yesterday**

* * *

><p>I took a sip of my tomato soup and nearly gagged. It wasn't that it tasted bad, it's just that it had almost no taste at all. I took a big gulp of water, trying to wash the blandness from my mouth. It tasted even weaker that usual today.<p>

I looked up from my soup and at my parents, trying to take my mind off of the loss of flavor. Dad was silently digging into his dinner, as always.

"Could you pass me the salt, please, Ethan?" He asked quietly.

My dad, Timothy Kairos, was on the quiet side. He didn't say much, but he could be pretty stubborn sometimes, and he could win almost any argument with those piercing dark eyes of his. If only he would speak up about Mom's cooking... He was pretty tall, and had a strong, confident-looking face. He was also a bit of a neat freak, with his perfectly-combed gray hair (yes, he still had a full head of hair) and always-on-straight glasses. My dad looked pretty old, but he was only two years older than my mom. Although Mom might be hiding her age with makeup and stuff.

My Mom, Pamela Kairos, was always cheerful and full of energy. However, her cooking tended to be on the bland side. My mom, if I do say so myself, was quite the looked, even at age forty. She had long, wavy, brown hair, but it was usually pinned up somehow. She also had this warm smile that she never hid, and it made everyone who saw it want to smile back.

And then there was me, Ethan Kairos. I was sixteen years old (seventeen tomorrow!) and a sophomore at Kako High School. I lived alone with my two parents and our cat. I suppose I had what some would call a brown 'Justin Bieber' haircut, long-ish and swept to the side. I wasn't so sure about that, after all, I had a pretty masculine voice, in my opinion, anyway. I wasn't super tall, but I guess I wasn't all that short, either (an average of my dad's tall height and my mom's petite frame). I also had these blue eyes that posed a great question to heredity. They were what my mom called a 'crystal-clear cerulean'. My dad simply said that they were navy. Anyway, the point was that neither of my parents had blue eyes, so I wasn't sure where the blue came from. But I guess it wasn't all that important.

As I handed Dad the salt, my mom saw the scratches on my hand.

"Ethan," she asked, concerned, "where did you get that cut?"

"A cut?" My dad suddenly asked frantically, "did someone attack you?"

"Huh?" I asked, looking down at my hand. "Oh... you mean this? It was just Sox. Sox scratched me." No need to freak out...

"Oh, is that all?" Dad sighed in relief and slumped down in his chair. "Don't scare us like that!" Hey, who was scaring who?

"I was about to give Sox a bath when he went ballistic..." I muttered, frowning at the cuts on my hands.

"That's Sox," Mom chuckled. "He absolutely hates water, that cat." I was through with bath duty...

"Speaking of Sox..." Mom said, taking a sip of her soup. How could she stand the stuff? "Derek hasn't been around lately. "Oh, that's right. Sox used to be Uncle Derek's cat.

"I'd say that means he doesn't need our money," Dad sniffed, frowning.

"Come on, now Tim..." Mom said softly.

"Anyway," Dad said, getting up from his seat at the table, "thanks for dinner." And he went upstairs to do who-knows-what.

"Yeah, thanks, Mom," I said, and went upstairs to my room as well.

When I got back upstairs, I noticed that my window was open again, and Sox was snoozing on my bed (no surprise there). "Were you outside, again, Sox?" I asked as I walked over and closed the window. "You'll get filthy out there!"

Sox only sat up and stretched. "Don't tell me you're still angry," I muttered. I reached over to pet him, but he hissed at me and arched his back. "Sorry, sorry," I moved my hand away. "I won't be giving you any more baths, okay?" Sox merely rolled over and went back to sleep.

"Ethan!" My mom called again from downstairs. "Tea's ready!"

"Coming," I called back.

On my way downstairs, I heard voices from inside the kitchen.

"Come on, I only need a little!" I heard a voice say. "Just a tiny bit...!" Huh? It sounded like Uncle Derek. Speak of the devil...

My Uncle Derek, my dad's brother, was a bit of a hothead, which could be kinda scary. He was ten years younger than Dad, but as I've mentioned before, my dad looked a lot older than he really was, so it only made Derek look even younger. My uncle had tousled black hair, wild eyes, and he always wore this leather jacket. He was kind of a rebel. In other words, he was nothing like my dad.

"I can't lend you anything," my dad said quietly. "Try to understand, Derek."

I walked into the kitchen, and sure enough, my uncle and my dad were in the middle of a heated conversation.

"Well, I won't leave 'til you do!" Derek leaned against the kitchen counter. "Whaddya think about that, huh?"

My father crossed his arms. "We just don't have enough to spare. You can't rely on us like you do, Derek."

I cleared my throat to announce that I had entered the room. "Hi, there, Uncle Derek..." I mumbled uncertainly.

"Hey, Ethan," he grudgingly nodded hello. "Talk some sense into your stingy old man, would ya?" He pointed accusingly at my dad.

"That's enough, Derek!" My dad slammed his fist on the counter. "Go on! Get out of here!" Whoa. I've never seen my dad like this before.

"Fine! I'm not gonna stand here and take your abuse!" Derek narrowed his eyes at my father. "What's a little money between family, anyway?" He balled his hands into fists at his sides. "Don't know why I should be surprised," he muttered. "You've always been down on me..."

"Well?" My father folded his arms again. "Stop beating around the bush. If you've got something to say, then come out and say it!"

"You'll regret this," my uncle snarled and made his way towards the front door. "Better watch your back, bro."

Dad was just staring at Uncle Derek, an unreadable expression on his face. I looked over to the kitchen table and saw that Mom was just sitting there, calmly drinking her tea. It was amazing how she could just sit through that whole argument.

"I'm outta here," Derek scoffed as he opened the door.

"But, Derek," my mom called calmly from the table. "I have tea!"

"Forget the tea!" My dad shouted exasperatedly.

"I'll just head home like a good little boy," Derek muttered. "But I'll be back," he said menacingly before he slammed the door and was gone.

My father sighed and sat down at the kitchen table. "When is he going to act his age?" It looked like they had it pretty rough...

"Help yourself to an apple, Ethan," my mother chirped, cheerful as a chickadee, as I sat down as well.

"Um, okay..." I muttered as I reached out and took one from the bowl in front of me.

"So, listen..." my father said as he sipped his tea. "You're turning seventeen tomorrow, aren't you, Ethan?"

"Huh?" I looked up from my apple.

"That's right!" My mom smiled. "Seventeen years old!"

"What's with the sudden birthday talk, you two?" I asked, puzzled at the sudden change of subject. Seriously, where did that come from?

"Oh, I get it!" I brightened, finally realizing what was going on. "You probably don't know what to get me."

"What... to get you?" My mom looked puzzled.

"Actually, I-" I started, but Mom only interrupted me.

"You want another watch, right?" She chuckled knowingly. Wow, she could see right through me...

"Aw, come on! Not really!" I stuttered, lying through my teeth. "Actually, what I'd really like-"

"Say, Pam," my father interrupted, ignoring what I had to say. "When are we going to talk to our son about... that?"

"It might be a little expensive..." I continued, hoping they'd listen. "But, hey- it's my birthday! And college is just around the corner!"

"Anytime is fine by me," my mom said to my dad. "I'll just duck out."

"It would have to have some really snazzy features," I continued, "appropriate for its cost, of course..." They'd have to hear me eventually, right?

"No, you should be there, too," Dad said back to Mom. "How about tomorrow? Better sooner than later." Okay, now this was just ridiculous.

"Whoa, whoa, everyone- time out!" I shouted above the chatter of my parents. "Aren't we talking about... my present?" They never really listened to me...

"Ethan..." my mom said quietly.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow, Ethan," my dad said quietly. "On the day that you turn seventeen."

"...Talk about what?" I asked, confused about the subject of conversation at the moment.

"Come home right away tomorrow," my mom said seriously. "Okay? No side trips."

"Uh, sure thing," I nodded uncertainly, "But what about my present?" I didn't mean to sound selfish, but my folks were just completely ignoring me here!

"Well..." my dad stood up from the table. "Goodnight," he said and went back upstairs. He didn't hear a word I said...

"...You two are a lot alike," my mom finally said after a while.

"Huh?" Me like_ Dad? _I sure hope not! I'd better be careful...

"Dad's got a lot on his mind," Mom said as she sipped her tea.

"See, that's just the thing," I said annoyedly. "I've been thinking about a lot of stuff, too."

"Ethan..." My mom looked concerned. Oh, so _now_ she's paying attention.

"But no one ever listens to what I have to say!" I sprung up from the table, slamming the apple down with a satisfying 'splat'.

"Oh, Ethan," she sighed. "That's not true."

"Like you, Mom," I heard myself getting louder with each word. "I can tell you 'til I'm blue in the face, but you never cook your food right!"

"Why, I...!" Mom looked shocked.

"Forget it," I muttered. "I'm going to bed..." I stomped upstairs to my room.

"Ethan!" My mom called right before I slammed the door. She sounded hurt.

* * *

><p>I sighed to myself as I got into bed. "G'night, Sox..." I said before I switched off the lights. Sox responded with a sleepy 'meow' before he curled up at my feet.<p>

I just laid there in bed, reflecting on what had happened tonight.

Phew... I think I crossed the line with Mom... And what was Dad talking about, anyway? 'We'll talk about it tomorrow'? What was that supposed to mean?

...Well, whatever. I'd find out tomorrow. And after Dad's had his say, I'd apologize to Mom.

And before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>I dreamt that I was a little kid again, tossing and turning in my sleep. The childhood Ethan was having a nightmare, and I was watching it with him.<p>

"Where are you?" He sobbed in his sleep. "Mommy, where? Dad..." He was dreaming of a burning building, a great fire. And two people, a young couple, were caught in it. The more I looked at the couple, the more familiar their faces seemed. Then I realized... it was Mom and Dad. They looked so... young. They looked at least ten years younger, maybe more.

Mom and Dad were running through the building, looking for an exit. They were just about to leave through the back door when another beam from the ceiling collapsed, blocking the doorway. Now there was no way out. Mom stepped back, her face worried, her eyes desperately searching for a way of escape. She found none. Suddenly, another beam fell and hit her on the head, causing her to cry out and collapse.

"Pamela!" my father cried, running over to her. But before he could help her, something remarkable happened. Everything froze, and I mean everything. Mom, the flames, even another falling beam was frozen in mid-air. Time itself appeared to be frozen. That is, everything was frozen except for my dad.

"What...?" He looked around, visibly bewildered at the situation. Then realization appeared to dawn on his face. "But who..." he said to himself. "Who could've done this?"

"Ethan!" Dad called out, looking around. "Was it you?"

_Mom! Dad! _I tried to call out, but I found that I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. It was as if I had no voice.

Then, in the center of the room, a giant spiraling portal suddenly appeared. It looked almost like a black hole from those sci-fi movies, appearing to be without end on the other side.

My father looked all around. "That appears to be the only way out," he muttered to himself. He then picked up my mother and started walking towards the mysterious portal with her in his arms.

_Mom! Dad! Wait for me! Wait!_

He stepped into the portal and began walking through the blackness that awaited on the other side.

_Don't leave me here! Come back!_

Then the hole closed, swallowing my parents and the blackness with it.

_Mom! Dad! Take me with you!_

Then time started back up, the flames blazing and beams falling once again. The building was beginning to collapse.

_No! Come back!_

The flames were getting even hotter now, and I could feel it.

_Don't leave me!_


	3. A New Day

**A New Day**

* * *

><p>"No!" I screamed, finally having found my voice. Oh, so <em>now <em>I could talk? After my parents had left me in the middle of a _fire_?

...Then I heard this really weird noise. It sounded almost like... a cat? I didn't remember any cats in the fire...

"Meow!" ...Okay, that was definitely a cat.

That's when I felt something rough and wet on my nose. It felt like sandpaper...

And then I woke up. Sox was licking my face again. Ugh.

"Aw, Sox," I batted him away and sat up in my bed. Wait... I was in bed? And not in a burning building?

...Was that all just a dream? I looked around, only to find that I was back in my room. I guess that confirmed it. It didn't happen.

Ugh... What an awful nightmare... I looked down to find my shirt damp, and that my arms were glistening with perspiration. Yikes, I was dripping with sweat... I needed a towel.

But as I looked at my arm, I noticed something. Huh? I turned my hand over. The scratches from yesterday were completely gone. Did I really heal that quickly? Shrugging it off, I jumped down from my bed and nearly slipped in my socks. What was that about? That's never happened before... I looked down to find myself standing on a wood floor. What happened to the carpet? This was weird, I thought as I shooed Sox off the bed and pulled my solid blue bedspread back over the mattress... Wait, did my blanket always look like that? I looked around the room again, finally realizing something.

...This wasn't my room! My room had a carpet, and a checkered bedspread! How'd I get _here_, sleepwalking?

Then, all of a sudden a giant black hole appeared in the middle of the room, just like the one in my dream. What the heck was happening? Had I finally gone completely insane?

I jumped as I felt something rub against my foot, and I looked down to find that it was only Sox. I sighed in relief as I reached down to pat him. If Sox was here, then this had to be my room, right? Then I noticed that he had something fastened to his collar. Pulling it off, I stared at it as I held it in my hands. It was... a pen? An average, everyday, green, plastic pen. It looked nothing out of the ordinary. Where would a cat get this?

"Where'd you find this, Sox?" I asked the cat as I picked him up, still not quite taking my eyes off of the mysterious hole in the middle of the room.

Was that... the same hole from my dream? ...I guess it couldn't hurt to take a look...

Sox meowed again, interrupting me from my thoughts, and I put him back down on the bed.

What if I tapped the portal with that pen? In other words, would weird object + weird object = explanation? I shrugged. By my logic, it seemed to work. I slowly reached out and touched the pen to the hole. In an instant, there was suddenly a white flash, a blinding light, and I felt as if I was being sucked into the portal. Then several images flashed before my eyes.

The first was of a burning building, the second of a kitchen table, and the last one showed what looked like a dumpster. Then all of a sudden, the images, along with the mysterious hole, were gone in a flash. And I found myself on the floor in a crumpled heap.

Whoa... What was that? I shook my head as I picked myself up from where I was sprawled out on the floor... I guess that was what you'd call a flashback, huh?

"What's going on up there?" I heard a gruff voice from downstairs.

"Who's out there?" I shouted. If I had been sleepwalking, and this wasn't my house...

"Whaddya mean, who?" The door opened and in walked Uncle Derek, leather jacket and all. "There's no one out here but me"

"Uncle Derek...?" I asked, confused. "Oh, have you come to see Mom and Dad?"

"Huh?" Derek looked confused. "You still half-awake, kiddo? And what's with all the sweat?" My eyes were no doubt as wide as saucers by now. 'Kiddo'? Was Uncle Derek always this buddy-buddy with me? This was completely out of character for him.

"Breakfast is ready," he said, shrugging. "But shower first, or you'll catch a cold."

"Uncle Derek...?" I took a step towards him. What the heck was going on?

"Hey, what's the big idea?" He took a step back. "You're getting sweat everywhere!" He wiped his palms on his jeans.

"What happened to Mom and Dad?" I asked him.

"... What?" His brow furrowed.

"You know... my parents?" I asked, confused at his odd facial expression.

"Now I know you're still asleep," he sighed. "You think I'd go through all this if I knew where they were?" He frowned. "After all, it's been twelve years since they up and disappeared..."

"What?...Really?" I was shocked. So was Uncle Derek looking after me, then? ...Oh, yeah, he was a freelance writer, wasn't he? At least, I thought he was. I couldn't remember exactly. Maybe I should've paid better attention when he bored me by talking about his job.

"C'mon, snap out of it!" He gently shook my shoulders. "You can't spend your whole day dreaming! Or am I gonna have to slap you awake?" He said with a joking glare.

"I remember now..." I muttered to myself. "Back when I was a kid, Mom and Dad..."

"Aw, man..." Uncle Derek shook his head. "Fine. I'm starting breakfast without you." And he closed the door and walked back downstairs.

I just stood there in shock at what I'd just heard. Mom and Dad... they went missing twelve years ago. I remembered now. Uncle Derek lived in this house and looked after me, instead.

...So was THAT a dream? Living with Mom and Dad-was it real? Or was I dreaming?

I racked my brain, trying to remember the flashbacks that I saw a few moments ago. Oddly enough, when I tried to recall the images, they flashed before my eyes once again, it was like looking at a photograph in my head. Was this what a photographic memory was like?

I recalled the most chilling image first, the one of the burning building. There were flames everywhere, completely engulfing the place, and it looked as if the building was about to collapse. Thankfully, though, I couldn't see anybody inside of it. That was when I realized that I had just dreamt about the exact same scene... But I wasn't still dreaming now, was I?

I moved on to the second image. It appeared to display someone's kitchen table. Wait a minute... was that the table downstairs? As I took a closer look, I realized that it was. Uncle Derek was seated across from where I was viewing the scene, reading a newspaper. On the table, there were two cups of coffee and several slices of toast. It was an all-too-common scene. I lived with my uncle now. When did that become an everyday scene for me, anyway?

The third image was a bit harder to identify. It pictured what looked like an old dumpster filled with bags of garbage. Next to it was an enormous incinerator. Right then, I had that nagging feeling in the back of my mind. I knew that place... It seemed familiar...

Sox rubbed up against my foot, startling me from my thoughts. I guess I'd better head down to breakfast. Uncle Derek was waiting for me.

As I was on my way downstairs, an odd smell wafted through the air. I sniffed the air, and I eventually came to the conclusion that it was coffee. That was weird, we didn't normally have coffee in the morning. My family and I were tea-drinkers, I remembered that much. But that particular smell _did_ seem vaguely familiar.

"Hey," Uncle Derek looked up from the newspaper he was reading at the kitchen table. "You awake now?" As I sat down across from him, I realized that the scene had become the flashback that I had seen earlier. Uncle Derek was seated across from me at the kitchen table reading a newspaper, and there was toast and coffee on the table.

"Uh-huh..." I mumbled, not quite hearing what he had said. This was weird...

He took one last sip of his coffee. "Okay," he said, getting up from his seat and folding up the newspaper. "I'm going out. You're on dish duty, all right?"

"S-sure thing..." I said, slightly in shock. I was thinking about what he had said to me earlier, and so nicely, too. He was like a completely different person. Uncle Derek rumpled my hair playfully on his way out the front door, nearly causing my jaw to drop. Whoa.

I shook my head as I picked up a piece of toast. Which part was the dream? I thought as I bit into my toast. And which part was real?

"Toast and coffee," I murmured to myself. I guess that this is was we usually had for breakfast. Munching on my toast, I noticed that something about the kitchen was changed. Where a large spot of blank wall used to be, there was a large wooden door. As I stared at it, I remembered what it was for.

...Oh, yeah. I took a second piece of toast. Uncle Derek had a study in there now. I couldn't remember actually ever going inside, though...

The clock on the opposite wall suddenly chimed, announcing that it was now 7:30. That's right, I thought as I finished my toast. I had school. I'd better get dressed.

I went back upstairs and put on my school uniform, a white polo shirt under a grey-ish crewneck jacket, with matching grey pants (skirts for the girls). I also had to wear a white kerchief around my neck, all the sophomores had to. Red for the freshman, white for the sophomores, blue for the juniors, and yellow for the seniors. I wasn't really sure why we had such a silly rule. Who knows?

I gathered up my schoolbooks (along with my homework, which I hoped I had done the night before), and placed them in my backpack, along the mysterious green pen Sox had given me. Then I gave Sox one final pat on the head before heading out.

* * *

><p>The final bell rang, signifying the end of yet another day at Kako High School. I gathered up my things and placed them in my backpack, sighing. Man, I just couldn't keep my mind on my work today... I tried using the pen earlier today, but I found that it didn't write. It seemed pretty useless, if you ask me, but a part of me just felt like I needed to keep it for some reason, so I held onto it, placing it in the breast pocket of my jacket.<p>

As I was leaving the building, I heard a couple of students chattering loudly behind me. Who were those two? I turned around to look at them. They sure were noisy...

"Are you serious?" A boy with sandy blonde hair asked incredulously. "Lemme take a look!"

"I'm totally serious," the other boy said. He had short dark hair and glasses. "I found it when I went to take the garbage out. Isn't it awesome?" He dug something out of his schoolbag and held it out for the other student to see. From where I was standing, though, I couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Whoa!" The blonde boy reached out to touch it, but the other boy snatched it away and put it back into his bag. "Dude! Lemme have half!" The blonde pleaded.

"You nuts?" The boy with glasses said as he zipped up his backpack. "What're you gonna do with half a clock?"

"Man, that's a real find," the blonde murmured, his voice full of awe. A clock, eh? I wanted a clock of my own yesterday. Now I couldn't care less...

An excited "Ethaaaan!" interrupted my thoughts.

"Who, me?" I turned around, looking for the owner of the excited voice that had just called my name.

"Duh, who else?" I looked over and saw Ashley Threet walking up to me. She had a timid-looking girl at her side. "C'mon, Emily," Ashley said, shoving the girl towards me. "What do you say?"

Ashley Threet was the younger sister of Vin Threet, one of my best friends. She was a freshman at Kako, and extremely energetic. She had short, choppy brown hair, big brown eyes, and a charming smile that always showed.

"Um..." Ashley's friend fidgeted with her pigtails for a moment. "Happy birthday, Ethan..." she said in a soft, quiet voice.

"Uh, hi," I said, thrusting out my hand for a handshake. "Um, not to be rude, but who are you?" I said to the girl.

"Oh, I-I'm so sorry!" The girl looked a bit startled. "My name is Emily. Emily Niner." She reached out and shook my hand shyly.

Emily had long black hair pulled into two loose pigtails at her sides. She wore glasses, and behind those were two rather pretty purple-ish eyes. Was purple even a natural color for eyes? She wore a red kerchief, so I assumed that she was a freshman like Ashley.

"Emily, huh?" I smiled at her. "Well, thanks for the birthday wishes, Emily!" I started to walk away.

"Wait!" Ashley grabbed my arm. "Don't go anywhere! What about your present?"

"What?" I asked, looking back at them. "My present?" They didn't have to get me anything...

"C'mon, Emily," Ashley nudged her friend with her elbow. "Where is it?"

"Oh, right." Emily started rifling through her backpack. "This is... f-for you, Ethan..." She blushed as she placed something in my hands. When I looked at the gift, I must admit, I was a bit surprised.

It was a clock, an antique one by the looks of it. It was small and made of polished wood, and it had all those fancy, loopy numbers on its face. It was rather beautiful.

Ashley cleared her throat. "It would mean a lot to her if you just accepted it," she said without much subtlety.

"Ashley!" Emily's face reddened even more. "Cut it out!"

"Thanks," I smiled as I put it in my backpack. That was nice of them...

"Emily heard you liked clocks and picked it out special," Ashley grinned. "And if you don't like it, then just throw it out or something," she added.

"What?" Emily looked shocked. "Ashley..."

A deeper voice from afar called out, "Yo, Ethan!"

"Rats, it's my brother!" Ashley muttered. "See ya, Ethan!" She said as she ran off.

"G-goodbye, Ethan..." Emily smiled shyly before taking off after Ashley.

"Hey, Vin," I said as my friend walked up to me and gave me a high five. Right behind him were Ben and Morris.

Vin Threet was a childhood friend of mine, a sophomore like me. He had disheveled sandy blonde hair, and dark brown eyes. He was also pretty tall (6 foot 2), and had an athletic build, both of which used to give him an advantage on the basketball team, but an old injury benched him, so he wasn't into any sports right now.

"Hey, Eeth," Vin said before glancing off in the direction of Ashley and Emily. "What's up with those two?" he said, shaking his head to himself. "Whispering amongst themselves..."

"They gave me a birthday present," I said as I dug out the clock from my backpack.

"Who did, Ashley?" He said before covering his nose with his shirt. "Gah! Nasty! Throw it away!"

"Why would I?" I shrugged, putting it back. "She went to all that trouble..." A clock for my birthday... Just what I was asking Mom and Dad for yesterday.

"What's up, Ethan?" Ben said with a smile. "You're so quiet. Choked up over that present, eh?" Ben Fourier was another one of my closest friends. He had golden brown hair, and large blue eyes that he always kept behind a pair of rather big glasses. Ben was kind of a wuss, but not a bad guy.

"Hey," I said to my friends. "Do you know anything about my folks? Anything at all."

"Whoa," Vin held his hands up. "Way to change the subject, Ethan."

"Aha!" Ben chuckled. "You really don't want to talk about that present, do you?"

"Yeah," Morris smiled. "We can read you like a book!"

Morris Fivet was another good friend of mine. He had this long-ish black hair and these rather serious-looking eyes. Then again, Morris was a pretty serious person. An A-plus student, Morris was always studying.

"N-no," I stuttered. "That's not it..." Although the whole present thing _was _sort of embarrassing... But I really would like to see if anyone knew anything about Mom and Dad.

"Your... parents, eh?" Vin ran his fingers through his hair, a habit that he'd had for years.

"Didn't you say they went missing when you were little?" Ben asked, straightening his glasses. "That's all we ever heard about them," he shrugged.

"I remember how your mom would buy us candy as kids," Vin said. "But that's about it."

"Morris?" I directed the conversation toward him. He'd been pretty silent this whole time.

"Ah, I'm not quite sure how to put this, but..." He looked away uncomfortably. "I heard they went missing about twelve years ago."

"Yeah, I figured as much..." I muttered half to myself. Just like Uncle Derek... They all said that my parents disappeared twelve years ago.

"What is it, Ethan?" Vin put his hand on my shoulder. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Hey, if you've got a cold, go home so we don't catch it," Morris said jokingly, taking a step back.

"Sorry, guys," I said, chuckling. "I'll see you later." I'd think this over when I got home.

* * *

><p>When I got into my driveway, I took another look at my house. It was like it totally changed overnight... Or maybe it was just my imagination.<p>

"I'm home!" I called as I strode through the front door. Only silence came to greet me. I guess Uncle Derek wasn't home yet. Shrugging, I went up to my room. Noticing a bare spot on top of my bookshelf,I decided to fill the empty space with my new clock. As I set the clock down, I noticed that the watch catalog that I had meant to show Mom and Dad wasn't there anymore... I stepped back from the shelf and gazed at the clock fondly. It looked pretty old. It might even be an antique. It looked pretty pricey, that was for sure. Maybe I should give Ashley and Emily a thank-you gift.

Clocks... More clocks... Wasn't Dad supposed to tell me something today, on my birthday?

Sox came through my open bedroom door, meowing loudly to announce his presence.

"Hey, Sox," I picked him up and scratched between his ears. As I took a closer look at him, I noticed something. There was a scrap of paper tucked into his collar. Maybe it was attached to that pen this morning. I unfastened the paper from Sox's collar and read the note as I placed him down on the bed.

"The Hollow Pen has been handed down through many generations of the Kairos family," it said. The Hollow Pen? Was that the pen from this morning? "The pen will glow when certain conditions have been fulfilled. Then you can open a Hole in time," it continued. Why was 'hole' capitalized? I shrugged it off and continued reading, "You'll learn the rest at the school's garbage dump. Be there 7 hours before on May 5th." What? '7 hours before'? I was so lost... There wasn't even any signature, I didn't know who the letter was from.

Shrugging, I folded the note and stuffed it into my pocket. It seemed vaguely important, so I didn't want just throw it out. I wanted to investigate. On my way downstairs, I heard some noises coming from the kitchen. Walking in, I found that my Uncle had gotten home. He was sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper (again).

"Oh, Uncle Derek," I said awkwardly. "Um, you're back..."

"Yeah, so?" He said without looking up from his paper. "What's it to you?" _There's_ the Uncle Derek I knew.

"N-nothing..." I shrugged. He sure wasn't the easiest guy to talk to...

"Where you headed off to, anyway?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"You were nearly out the door," he said, nodding towards my hand, which happened to be resting on the doorknob to the back door. "Just what time do you think it is, pal?"

"Uh... well..." I stuttered, "I just wanted to get some fresh air. I've been studying all this time..." A plausible enough excuse, right? It wasn't like I could tell him I was headed to school to find out about the letter, after all.

My uncle narrowed his eyes and just stared at me, as if to make sure I was telling he truth. Was he onto me?

"...Make sure you lock up," he finally said, putting down his newspaper. "I'm turning in."

"O-of course," I nodded. He actually believed it!

As soon as he was upstairs, I bolted out the door.

* * *

><p>"Well," I said as I arrived at the empty dumpster in the middle of the dark, "I'm here..." Nothing exciting seemed to be happening... Hey, wait a minute...<p>

As I stared at the dumpster, I realized something. That's right-I saw this place in that flashback. This must be the place that was mentioned in that letter. So something must have happened here '7 hours before'. It was around 10 at the moment, which meant around 3 earlier today...

I recalled the image back to my mind. Sox's letter mentioned the time and place... So the image must be of the dump at around 3 today! I used the scene's slightly fading sunlight to confirm my guessed time.

As soon as I pieced together the flashback, I felt this weird tingling sensation in my chest. When I looked down, I found that it was coming from my breast pocket-the Hollow Pen was glowing. So that meant...

I took the pen from my jacket pocket and held it in my hands, and the tingling spread to there.

"Now I..." I asked myself out loud, "I use this to open... a 'Hole'?" What on earth was I even talking about? Just how was I supposed do that?

... Just draw a circle here, or something? I mentally shrugged. Might as well try it...

I drew a circle in the air with the pen, just as a leaf was falling from a nearby tree, and that's when the most amazing thing happened.

Whoa.

As soon as I drew the circle, time stood still. Everything around me stopped, including the falling leaf. It just stopped in mid-air. But the leaf wasn't the only remarkable thing.

Right in front of me, was a giant, gaping, hole. It looked exactly like the one from my dream, the same, sci-fi black hole that I had seen before.

However, things were slightly different this time. After a moment, the darkness on the other side of the hole began to morph into a different image.

What was inside the hole displayed the dumpster, but the sun was out on the other side of the hole. Then... was this hole showing the dumpster... at 7 hours before? Recalling the image back to my mind, I confirmed that it was.

Whoa. It was like looking through a window to another time. I just stared at what was in the hole for a while.

On the other side of the hole, the sun was still out, and a couple of students were walking nearby, but they were frozen in place. There was still trash inside the dumpster, but that wasn't the only thing inside it. Among the many bags of garbage, there was a small mahogany box with a brass buckle. What was that doing there? It certainly didn't look like it was meant to be thrown out.

I reached through the Hole to pick it up, only to have it nearly swallow my arm. It sure was deep... As I pulled my arm back through, I noticed that there was a letter attached to the box.

Another letter... I frowned. Let's see what this one says... I removed it from the envelope, unfolded it, and began reading.

"Dear Ethan," it read. "Beyond the Hole is a Moment from the past. The Holes you open must be closed, or time won't start up again. The holder of the Pen must have the Time to use it. Once you've gotten the hang of the Pen, come and rescue us. This box is for you, in memory of the first Hole you ever opened. Happy Birthday, Ethan." My eyes wandered to the bottom of the paper, where, scrawled in that familiar chicken scratch, the letter read, "Sincerely, Dad".

_...Dad? _I hastily opened the box and stared, shocked, at what was inside. I gasped as I opened the lid, and gaped at what was inside, feeling tears start to well up at the corners of my eyes. Inside the box, was a watch, the exact one that I'd asked for yesterday...

So _that_ yesterday wasn't a dream after all! Mom and Dad really _did_ live! I rubbed my eyes, trying to rid myself of the tears slowly forming.

Taking a deep breath, I started to leave before I realized that I still needed to close the Hole. I tapped the Hole with the pen, and I felt the same rushing feeling and saw the same blinding light again. More images flashed before my eyes.

The first was of the dumpster again, and the other was of two students.

Before I knew it, the images were gone, and time had started back up again. I found myself back at the empty dumpster at 10 at night, watch and letter in hand.

...So even though I'd closed the hole, what I'd pulled through remained. I wonder if that changed anything in the past, or the future...

I sneezed just as the falling leaf finally fluttered to the ground. I should head home, I thought as I wiped my nose. I'd catch a cold if I stayed here. I placed the letter Hollow Pen back in my pocket, and put the watch on my wrist. Besides, I needed to think and try to process all of this.

* * *

><p>"Hiya, Sox," I said to him as I sat down on my bed. He stretched and sat up to look at me with his giant green eyes. "Do you remember when I tried making you take a bath?" I scratched him between his ears. "You gave me a nasty scratch. Even Mom was fed up with you." Sox only blinked in response.<p>

"I remember..." I got up from the bed. "After all, it was only yesterday." Sox laid back down and flicked his tail back and forth, watching me pace the floor. "But what happened to the part that comes after yesterday?" I asked myself. "It's got to be somewhere..."

I closed my eyes and laid back against the wall. "The rest of it all... A world with me, Mom, and Dad in it, living together..." I snapped my eyes open. "It WASN'T a dream! I know it wasn't!" I shouted, startling Sox and caused him to jump, almost making me chuckle.

I took the Hollow Pen out of my pocket and just stared at it for a while. "I've got to rescue Mom and Dad," I muttered to myself as I turned it over in my fingers. "With this crazy pen of theirs..."


End file.
